Boys Soccer: MVAL, Rankings, Standings, Stats

It might not appear to be a league loaded with top flight teams, but if you look very closely at the Mission Valley Athletic League, it is a league that is pretty solid from top to bottom and it is a league that will have several teams make the playoffs.
Of course Newark Memorial still headlines the league. The program has recently reached the NCS finals, and a couple years before that was in the NCS semifinals. They are a team that should be considered the favorite, but as evidenced by Irvington playing them tough last week, there will be very few easy wins.
Irvington, with a win over Mission San Jose this year and draws with Antioch and Newark shows the Vikings are going to be in the mix.
Speaking of MSJ, this team could be a serious threat. Every loss, including to two EBAL teams and a ranked Mt. Eden team, have been by one goal. They have played well against very highly thought of teams.
Washington has a win and a draw against EBAL schools and is off to a very good start, and looks like a legit playoff contender, along with MSJ.
And of course there is Logan. A team that got off to a rough start outside of league play, but was always going to bounce back because they are just always solid. The Colts have ran out to the league lead, and talks of their demise were probably way too premature. Logan looks like a playoff team, once again.
Kennedy, American and Moreau have all had close results that show that they could also be tough on any team on any given night, and don’t be surprised if one or more of these teams makes a push to the playoffs.
The MVAL is very competitive and should be very competitive from top to bottom this season.

Rankings

Couldn’t drop DLS from the top spot after a draw with a very good out of area team in Cathedral. Acalanes is waiting to pounce on that top spot as the Dons have looked nothing short of impressive this year.
Back into the top five is YV as that team seems to be getting better, while Amador Valley and San Ramon Valley both jump two spots after successful weeks.
The newest team into the top 15 is Mt. Eden, who continues to put up good results. Hercules creeps nearer to the top 15 with a big test against Pinole Valley this week, while St. Mary’s, Washington and Freedom all jump into the consideration list.

You guys have this EBAL thing going , which is your right, I guess, But I have to say that ALL of the EBAL schools are really boring to watch. It’s pretty simple really, they all play like Italians, which may win (around here anyway)
but is about as exciting to watch as paint dry.
I have watched Hayward, Hercules , Alameda, Pinole,Berkeley, and even Arroyo play exciting, fast paced soccer that MOVES and lose or no, displays more art than anything I’ve seen on the far side of the hills.

mudhen

Vapors, when a keeper does that BIG OL’ LEG IN THE AIR move to intimidate players , he is setting him(or her) self up for a red card every time. You are NOT

mudhen

continued…. allowed to endanger an opponent in order to protect yourself,. PERIOD.

bkells

Hey Mudhen….what do you mean EBAL play like Italians?

The Sweeper

2-2 final at Foothill

mudhen

It’s called catenaccio. Look it up. Yes it wins , but good God is it boring. It’s defend defend and wait for a mistake. Barcelona does NOT play this way , Inter Milan does.

bkells

Av-1 Granada-0
Coach Berglin makes adjustments with 25 minutes left.A beauty goal by #7 Ty Pangia on a corner kick from Scott Simpson with about 6 minutes left in game.Defense of AV was solid… only allowing a few shots on net .Nice win Dons!

bkells

Mudhen….most of Inter Milan’s players are not Italian look it up!

JogaBonito

Yv with a 2-0 win over a tough grass field at Mount. Goals scored by #10 Damian and #9 Ayala.

eL Pata

Italian = highly organized defense with a magician in the mid (baggio, pirlo) looking to pull strings and release counter.

Spanish (now) = crisp passing triangles looking to break you open

Brazil = pure joy on the ball with flair and ( when winning a world cup) a defensive mid that will rip your head off

Germany = technical machine with a keeper that towers.

England = what book did Trevor brooking read this month?

All high school soccer = learning who you are as a person/player and trying to do the right thing in he right moment.

SCP

De Anza 1 Hercules 2

Itsabob

DLS was stagnant and disjointed up front..lost control of ball at midfield. MV nothing special but scrappy. Shots that were presented defiantly advantage to DLS.

Shinguard

Good luck to the Spartans as they prepare for the SoCal HS Classic as they will be heading to San Diego on the 26th.

Merry Christmas
Peace and Good Cheer to All you soccer fans.

Champions League MUFC draws Real Madrid
and FC Bayern draws Arsenal
TWO of my favorite teams and they both wear Red.

Ball Don’t Lie

Matt,

What was your takeaway of the DLS-MV match? Was one team more aggressive than the other or was the draw the right result? Was play even or was it more on one side of the field? Thanks for the updates during the game!

Vapors

#106 @mudhen I agree with you. Yet, maybe my description wasn’t accurate enough for you. He tried to stop the shot by kicking out his legs, this is once the ball is shot. The Newark player had momentum and he ran forward and tripped over the leg while it was already down on the ground.

Juan Pito

DLS game was entertaining tonight. Two top teams with a very even matchup, entertaining soccer no matter what the style.

Matt Smith

@Ball Don’t Lie I thought that the play was very even, and that a draw was the fair result. I would have felt bad for the losing team if a goal had ben scored. The play went back and forth and I’d say possession was close to 50/50 and it was divided equally between sides of the field.
I think DLS probably had a couple of more good chances, but other than that, it was very even. 50/50 balls were even, both back lines stayed discipline.
The one take away is that I think Ben Panconi was the man of the match. He played great.

Matt Smith

To Hercules fans…

Maxpreps says they lost their first game to Kennedy-Fremont 1-0, but I thought it was a 0-0 draw. Can somebody please shed some light on this for me?

The Sweeper

The Sweeper is quite amused by the EBAL = Italy-style futball discussion.

I do not agree, and considering the EBAL domination in the NCS playoffs and championships (boys and girls), the facts do not support these claims, blah, blah, blah.

Ironically, on Tuesday I met a ‘youngish’ looking gentleman at half time of the DLS@AV match. He had sat nearby during the 1st half of the match with no interaction. At the end of the half he asked me if I knew the teams. I pointed out that the green uniformed team was DLS, a storied American football private school, with a ‘recently’ dominating futball program (#1 in NorCal for multiple years), and the white uniformed team and ‘up-and-comer’.

He introduced himself as a youth soccer coach from Rome (U16 boys) recently transplanted to the East Bay, running a woodworking craftsman shop in P-town, go figure. I kid you not.

Suffice to say, during the second half we discussed the quality of play and he was quite ‘appalled’ by the looseness of play by DLS (wrong by my take) and the ‘lack of organization’ by AV (mis-understood by my take), a ‘typical’ Italian response by my take.

We debated the details for the last 30 minutes of the 2nd half, and agreed that DLS would score ‘soon’ which the Spartans did.

By no means is this a criticism of either team, but he was adamant that the play upon the field, while entertaining, was nothing that he taught in Roma.

Ciao baby…

The Sweeper

Follow-up comments to SRV@Football match: The 0-0 second half of the 2-2 final result was just as challenging and entertaining as the first half. BUT, the match momentum was stunted by a rash of yellow cards in the 2nd half, probably 4+ for the Falcons and 2+ for the Wolves. The match started at the same time as the other EBAL matches, but ended 10 minutes later due to the 2nd half yellow card delays.

That said, SRV controlled the pace of play, but Foothill pushed back all match long, and both keepers were flawless in the 2nd half. The result was appropriate.

See you at the pitch.

BarneyBarnyard

Mudhen, I think the word you are struggling to find to describe the EBAL teams is “Disciplined”. DeLaSalle is the most disciplined team out there. Most EBAL teams play a very nice style of soccer. What they don’t typically do is give away cheap goals. When you play this style, albeit in your words boring, you are failing to see the big picture. This is much tougher to do. The high school coach gets a new crop of kids every year. Probably only gets a few weeks to get these players to buy in to a particuliar style or system. Then the kids put it to task. Maybe other leagues just don’t have the players to do this with. Maybe the EBAL has a larger pool of club players to choose from. I don’t know. I just think it’s funny to read a comment from someone who calls winning “boring”. Sour grapes, probably. In my humble opinion, I feel it’s a better and cleaner style. I love to see how hard they work on defense. You really have to love the game to take such pride in being a destroyer and not a creator. That is what defenders do. Destroy all that the creators are trying to build. Maybe if more non EBAL coaches preached a little more defense instead of a more free flowing south american style or spanish style of play, they might get to the top of the mountain. Oh yeah mudhen, I have never met a kid that said “Gee our style was so much prettier than theirs. Why did we lose?” Winning isn’t everything. But it sure is a heck of lot more fun than losing. Go ask DeLaSalle. I think they have a ton of fun and taken some pretty cool pictures with medals around their necks. Oh yeah, and I doubt any of them could care less if they looked boring.

BarneyBarnyard

BTW, I am not a DLS parent. Just a jealous admirer.

BarneyBarnyard

Oh yeah, and the proud parent of a Defender (a.k.a. Destroyer)!

11v11

Jogabonito—

Yv played on a very difficult field , but the goal that #10 Damian scored was an auto goal by a mount defender.

Clearing up some facts.

bkells

Mudhen….have you ever been to Italy to watch 16 year olds play for their city rep teams.They are definitely not boring.For starters the game is religion to the people.The whole town shows up for the games.There is creativity up front and in the midfield,defense is vicious in such a way that if the techniques were utilized in the EBAL entire defenses would be ejected from games.And of course the goalies are briliiant!

Matt Smith

I got the Hercules thing figured out, not that anybody was wondering

A lot of games on the schedule tonight, and most of them involve teams that play with the ball at their feet and like to keep it on the pitch. Should be interesting to see how the rain effects the results tonight.

“most of them involve teams that play with the ball at their feet and like to keep it on the pitch”……hmmm
is this Matt’s editorial commentary on the “Italien” debate?

Mudhen

Man, I just KNEW I could rattle your cages with a catenaccio comment. Sweeper, what makes you think that I don’t know that true CATA style has not been played for years. BUT the style of play that Italy is noted for , even still, is overpowering defense and quick counter on mistakes. And DIVING TOO!! And yes, winning speaks for itself, but I will again say it; If the boys from the less advantaged areas had the same level of club and other training as the good boys and girls of the more privileged areas, I have no doubt that a different tune would be sung –SOMETIMES.

P.S. Don’t think that even mighty DLS. is above flopping . 2 years ago I watched them flop like tuna on the deck near the end of the (I believe) semi-final against Cal, with the pitiful ref crew buying it.
And no I’m not a DLS hater. I often go to their games, and San Ramon too.I just think that they all play more or less the same.

bkells

Well done Stewie….no offense I am of Irish/English descent.I still like the tactical minds of the Italians like Giovanni Trapattoni.Irelands futball team is competitive in each game since “Traps” took over

bkells

Other than the Germany drubbing!

Stewie

This is all in fun…never take it serious. Every team has a style of play, smooth flow or aggressive. With the High Schools you truly don’t see good play till mid point as the teams start to jell. So much depends on the talent that is available to a team and then the coaching staff that can put it all together.
PS Germans have 7 teams that are in European cup play..that is a new record.

Shinguard

Bottom line with soccer is you have to play a well rounded game. All aspects O & D & GK and in the box play and from grace to raw physicality, discipline mixed with creativity and yes some acting skill all help produce wins. If you become to one dimensional you tend to come up short. That is what’s fun about De La Salle you are never sure who may ram the ball into the net, it might be pretty or ugly but bottom line the ball made it into the goal.

Checking in from Union City where Logan and Newark are about to kickoff.

Stewie

Whatever Conference Notre Dame Football goes to.

EBAL…Then teams like Newark, Pitt, Richmond and YV to name a few programs that are consistent and show passion and respect for the game. Don’t get me wrong lots of other good teams around but as leagues go EBAL.
EBAL is a physical and aggressive league..big difference between physical and reckless,which ruins the game.

Salesians trooper

Salesians 0 – 0 Richmond, at Richmond

Matt Smith

Is that a final score from Richmond?

Salesians trooper

@ Matt Smith yes, final score. Also, the game was held at Salesians, not Richmond.

Matt Smith

@Salesians Trooper if you know Salesian’s overall record, can you let me know? I’m not sure if what I have is accurate.

Great result for Salesian. The mystery of Richmond continues.

Matt Smith

Newark and Logan 0-0 with 18 minutes left.

Yellow Jacket

6-1 Berkeley over O’dowd

Stalwart

4-1 Northgate over Clayton Valley.
The rain waited until the game was over.